Jason Eckardt: Passage

Jason Eckardt’s composition Passage is a profound exploration of the unsettling history surrounding the CIA’s interest in sensory deprivation and its impact on human psychology. Divided into three movements – Subject, Ascension, and Testify – Eckardt delves into the dark legacy of interrogation techniques, shedding light on the use of sound and light as weapons in various global conflicts. In a separate work, pulse-echo, Eckardt transforms the piano into a resonant body, drawing inspiration from the instrument’s fundamental design. The piece, influenced by Arnold Schoenberg’s reflection on art as a cry of distress, encapsulates the powerful intersection of personal experience and the universal pulse of humanity.